Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

Author:Sarah Henning
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

FOUR YEARS BEFORE

The raven-haired girl couldn’t stay on the beach. She couldn’t just lie there while the people she loved like family were in the water.

She pushed herself upright but felt as weighed down as if the tide still held her. Her feet stumbled and her lungs seized, and she fell back into the sand.

The townspeople who watched didn’t help her up, didn’t rush to her aid. They whispered into their hands but weren’t quiet enough. She’d heard it all before, and the words played in her ears like memories.

That girl—she’s allowed access to the castle and she’s dull enough to think she lives there.

The prince isn’t your brother, girl.

Wouldn’t put it past her to be behind this whole tragedy—social-climbing cow.

The raven-haired girl forced herself to her feet again, eyes on Iker’s form, swimming deftly through the water. Her fingers flexed at her sides. There was so much she wished she could do.

She took a step forward. And then another. Moving under her own power, breathing deeply to push herself along. Her heart pounding in time with the names of her loved ones—Anna, Nik, Anna, Nik, Anna, Nik.

And Iker. So strong. He had to save them.

Her toes splashed in the water and she stopped. Fingers flexing again. What she wouldn’t give for her mother’s inks and crystals, for her aunt’s books and knowledge. For a world where she could use their magic—and not burn or be banished for trying.

Iker surfaced. He threw his head back, pulling in a long heave of air, and then dove, his feet splashing over the top of the churning waves.

He’d found one of them. Maybe both of them. How long had they been under? Could it be too late?

The girl looked to her toes, to the minnows swirling about her ankles like the worst thing in the world wasn’t happening right then in their slice of the sea.

Like her friends weren’t dying and it wasn’t her fault.

Though it was. She’d been the one to suggest to Anna that Nik might be impressed by her bravery. That he always seemed thrilled with hers—why wouldn’t it work for Anna? Anna, who had such a crush.

It was the girl’s own fault. She’d suggested the race. She’d planted the idea of bravery in her friend’s head. And now it was all so wrong.

Anna. Nik. Anna. Nik. Anna. Nik.

But she wasn’t powerless, was she? A memory crashed forth in her mind and suddenly the words slipped onto her tongue. Old and dark. And worth a try. She didn’t have inks or potions or crystals. But she had these words. They were a breath of life. And they were all she had.

And so, the raven-haired girl stood in the shallows, reciting the last spell her mother ever cast.

Immediately, her skin grew hot, the seawater there evaporating into dry salt streaks. Her blood sang with magic, her back to the people who would have her burned or banished. She knelt into the waves, put her hands in the water—the more of her touching, the more power there would be.

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